If you would like to know more about us or find composting resources, see additional links in the left sidebar.

And remember ... when in drought, spread the compost out!

News and Announcements

Master Composters in the News

Our very own John Zarola was interviewed about composting by KRQE News 13. Watch the video here.

Comprehensive Workshops To Be Held March 28 and May 30

Each workshop will include classes in Home Composting Basics and Soil Amending, Composting with Worms, and Bucket Composting with the Bokashi Method. Classes are free and open to everyone. Participants may register for one, two, or all three classes. The workshop will be held in Bernalillo on March 28 and in Albuquerque on May 30. Please see Classes and Other Activities for the Public for time, location, and registration details.

New Select a Method Flyer

Learn About Bokashi Composting

Have you heard about Bokashi composting? It's a method developed in Japan that is inexpensive, easy, takes up little space, has no smells, doesn't attract pests, and requires no turning. The method makes it hard to find an excuse not to compost your kitchen waste! You can compost all the kitchen scraps you normally compost as well as meat, bones, and oily things. Jill Van Nortwick recently gave a talk to BERNCO master composters about Bokashi composting. Check out these powerpoint slides from the talk. Or, if you prefer, here is a PDF copy of the slides. The slides include a video about Bokashi composting. The video is made by a commercial company but keep in mind that you can do Bokashi composting in ordinary buckets.

New Herbicides Imprelis and Aminopyralid Can Contaminate Compost

Up till recently, herbicides commonly used in the home yard or garden did not contaminate compost since they break down in the composting process. However, the US Composting Council is warning us about a new herbicide, Imprelis from DuPont, which can survive the composting process and harm plants which are later grown in the compost. Care should be taken to avoid putting plants which have been treated with Imprelis into compost. Please see article from the Composting Council for more information. In addition, the herbicide Aminopyralid marketed by Dow AgroSciences, bearing brand names including Milestone and Forefront, remains active in horse manure up to three years. See article from BioCycle magazine, The Aminopyralid Challenge Continues. Update: DuPont has announced that it plans to issue a total recall of Imprelis following widespread evidence and complaints that the product has caused the deaths of trees around the country. See report in Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog.

We Are nmcomposters.org

You can get to our site via the URL nmcomposters.org. Master composters, please share it with your students. The URL, bernalilloextension.nmsu.edu/mastercomposter, works as well. Both will get you to the page you are on now.